Like explorers hacking a path through the jungle, a small but determined group of developers, planners and civic leaders has struggled for 12 years to create a unique urban environment in Midtown.

Much of what they are trying to achieve — a walkable neighborhood with a vibrant street scene — is forbidden by city development rules still focused on the automobile. Leaders of a civic group have dipped into their own pockets to pay for alternative design plans for a proposed Main Street drugstore that clashes with their Midtown vision.

Despite these obstacles, Midtown leaders have achieved a remarkable transformation of the area between downtown and the Museum District. They have turned a neglected wasteland into a thriving, rapidly growing community still widely regarded as Houston's best hope of creating an "urban village" where people can work, shop and enjoy themselves without having to drive.

"We'd give our spiel and you'd look in people's eyes, and you could tell they thought you were crazy," LeBlanc said. "We were finally able to induce a couple of developers to give it a shot."

Tax base grows

Those early investments have paid off. Since the TIRZ was created, Midtown's population has increased from about 500 to more than 9,500 and its tax base has grown from about $157 million to more than $800 million.

Passengers zipping by on the MetroRail line that bisects Midtown still see boarded-up buildings and graffiti on Main Street. A vacant building where a young entrepreneur is developing a wine bar serves as bedroom and bathroom for uninvited guests. On many streets, taking a stroll still requires squeezing past others on narrow, unshaded sidewalks.

The vision promised on the Midtown Web site — "a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood in the heart of Houston" — has been achieved in parts of Midtown, but some developers remain skeptical of these concepts. And city development rules forbid certain features of walkable urban design.

For example, the requirement for building setbacks of 25 feet outside of downtown gives pedestrians little to see except parking lots.

When Midtown leaders persuade developers to build projects designed more in keeping with the Midtown vision, they often must obtain variances from the city Planning Commission, a costly and cumbersome process.

Theoretically, the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone has the authority to write its own development rules. Reinvestment zones are districts where tax revenue from increased property values is reinvested in neighborhood improvements.

LeBlanc said the redevelopment authority had submitted numerous drafts of a development code to the city Legal Department for review. All were rejected, he said, on grounds that they constituted zoning, which Houston voters have repeatedly rejected.

The existing rules are frustrating to Ian Rosenberg, a planner and developer who is turning a vacant, 80-year-old Midtown building into a European wine bar and cafe.

Rosenberg said city officials told him he would have to provide more off-street parking than he could create even if he tore down the building, which once housed a dry cleaner. Placing an awning over a sidewalk to provide shade for pedestrians would require a variance, he said.

Rosenberg leased enough parking space to meet the requirement, and he hopes to open his bar on Caroline Street this fall. But he questioned the logic of requiring so much parking when he wants people in the neighborhood to walk to his bar.

Rules linked to transit

If the Midtown vision is to be achieved consistently, "there are definitely some changes that are going to have to happen in the way things get built," said Rosenberg, 35, who lives in Midtown and is vice chairman of the Midtown Management District board.

City officials say they hope to make it easier to build urban-style developments in Midtown and other neighborhoods near transit corridors, such as the Main Street light rail line. While special rules for particular neighborhoods may be legally questionable, they said, rules linked to conditions such as proximity to transit might work.

This is the goal of an urban transit corridors initiative that began last month with a conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Wulfe, Rosenberg and others said city officials seem committed to making this approach work.

Planners say areas near transit stops are an ideal place for mixed-use developments that combine homes, workplaces, shops and entertainment. But development on the Main Street rail line has been scarce, in part because speculation has driven up the price of nearby land.

Perhaps a quarter of the residents of the Camden Midtown apartment development on Louisiana use the rail line to get to jobs downtown or in the Texas Medical Center, said Ric Campo, the chief executive of Camden Property Trust. Many residents are "counter-commuters" who work in the suburbs and drive to their jobs without encountering much congestion, he said.

Enjoyed Midtown

Song Bae, 31, who moved into a Midtown apartment last year, said her husband rode the train for a time to his downtown job with a management consulting firm. He now takes the bus because his office moved farther from the rail stop, she said, but the couple still can manage with only one car.

Bae said she and her husband have enjoyed living in Midtown, but caring for their 21-month-old daughter has left little time for them to sample the neighborhood's growing nightlife and dining. They are building a house in Katy to raise their daughter.

"We'd love to be here if we didn't have a kid," Bae said. "It's a great location and a nice apartment, and you can actually have an urban life."